Then, slowly, glimmers of good news began. The nonprofit Rebuild Hoboken raised more than $900,000 to help residents and businesses. The usually fractious city council unanimously approved emergency notes to cover storm-related costs. A huge corporate center broke ground on the riverfront. A renovated park welcomed kids to its new playground. The high school football team won the state championship and paraded triumphantly down Washington Street.

Small photocopied "Shop Local" signs on storefronts gave way to giant street banners reading "♥ Hoboken? Let's keep the charm," part of a Chamber of Commerce campaign that included a TV ad by Buddy Valastro, the Cake Boss. Zimmer kept turning up all over the city—"fighting for our residents literally around the clock," says City Councilman Ravinder Bhalla. Zimmer urged people to visit the new resource center, follow announcements on social media, and provide information so that her staff could tally the problems and address them.

Zimmer believes in communication, and she believes in the people of Hoboken. She witnessed the two coming together four days after the storm. When two big trucks full of military MRE's (meals ready to eat) pulled in to the city with little notice, the staff quickly posted on Facebook and Twitter: Urgent call for volunteers at the high school.

"A couple hundred people showed up within 30 minutes," Zimmer says, "passing the boxes off the trucks and handing them down the line. It was a beautiful image, amazing, everyone wanting to help." As she describes the moment, her voice quavers, just the tiniest bit. When she saw the line of volunteers that day, she pulled out her phone and took a picture. The scene looked like hope. And the people in the picture looked an awful lot like family. ~

Jane Harrigan, former director of the UNH journalism program, is now a freelance editor and writer.

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